Keeping promises, breaking promises
by FoxtrotTango543
Summary: It's been a while since Hiccup's first tickle attack on Toothless, but that has been enough for Toothless to forget about Hiccup's promise and wake him up early one morning. Unfortunately, although Toothless has forgotten all about it, Hiccup, alternatively, hasn't! Poor Toothless. (Sequel to my previous fanfic, "Dragons aren't ticklish - or are they?")
1. A case of deja vu

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD. All rights go to Dreamworks animations, the maker of the films, and Cressida Cowell, who wrote the book series. This fanfic was set during the Dragons: Defenders of Berk series.

* * *

One day, Toothless was bored. He hadn't gone flying with Hiccup for ages (well, to him it felt like ages) because Hiccup was spending all his time in the forge making new tailfins. _Which would be fine if they ever actually got used,_ Toothless thought to himself angrily. _All Hiccup seems to do these days is work in the forge. Soon, people will have to force him to do anything else - wait a second, THAT'S IT!_

Toothless crept off the stone slab on one side of Hiccup's room and started patrolling Hiccup's bed in circles, while Hiccup slept on, completely oblivious to everything going on around him. Toothless fought to keep a small smile off his face; this was going to be fun - well, fun for him anyway. He didn't think Hiccup would feel the same way. _I guess the answer to that will have to be a resounding no,_ Toothless thought to himself. _But who cares, this is going to be hilarious!_

Toothless was just about to wake up the peacefully snoozing boy, but suddenly had qualms about it, but shook them off because he didn't know why he felt so nervous. But then he thought of how great it would be to go flying with Hiccup, and he came to a decision.

Toothless decided that instead of tickling the boy until he gave in and got up, he'd simply scare him witless. Toothless figured that if he scared him well enough, Hiccup would fall out of bed due to the shock and subsequently agree to go flying because he couldn't go back to sleep after. _Perfect,_ Toothless thought.

He started pacing round the bed looking for a good hiding place. He later gave up on the idea, mainly because he was far too big to be able to hide anywhere and because in his opinion, a good scare prank doesn't need the prankster to find a hiding place at any point. As long as somebody winds up getting scared senseless, it means that your prank has worked, even if it hasn't worked the way you wanted it to.

He crept up to Hiccup's sleeping body, and weakly tugged on his prosthetic leg, deliberately not using his full strength so he didn't wake Hiccup too early. Hiccup mumbled a bit in his sleep, but continued to doze. But then he pulled harder, and harder, but still made sure that his efforts didn't detach Hiccup's metal leg. Eventually, Hiccup woke up, groggy and confused about why he'd woken up earlier than he'd planned.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Hiccup mumbled, slurring his words slightly as if he was drunk. Rolling onto his sides, he came face-to-face with a gigantic black creature that had green eyes and a gaping mouth lined with sharp white teeth! And it was standing right in front of him! "AARGH!" Hiccup screeched in an unnaturally high-pitched voice as he tried to get away from whatever had sneaked into his room. Unfortunately, his limbs weren't as coordinated as he wanted them to be at that time, and instead of quickly running out of his room before the enormous beast could eat him as an appetiser, he fell to the floor with a small thud. (It was only a small thud because, as we all know, Hiccup happens to bit a bit on the scrawny side.) As he lay on the floor in a half-dazed, half-asleep state, he heard laughter. Familiar laughter. He was about to shut his eyes and wait for the monster to eat him and put him out of his misery, when his eyes finally focused and Hiccup was able to see the 'monster' more clearly. He groaned to himself; he'd been pranked on a colossal scale. The so-called 'monster' from earlier had just been Toothless, his dragon. And from the sound of the laughter, Toothless had set up this little wake-up call himself. Hiccup sighed to himself. This was typical behaviour for Toothless when he wanted Hiccup to go flying with him.

Hiccup watched annoyedly as Toothless laughed hysterically at Hiccup for falling hook, line and sinker for his little 'prank'. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HICCUP, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN YOUR FACE! FIRST YOU WERE ALL SLEEPY AND THEN YOU SAW ME AND YOU SCREAMED LIKE A LITTLE GIRL AND FELL OUT OF THE BED! THAT WAS HILARIOUS! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Toothless laughed at Hiccup's early morning fail some more, but quickly stopped when Stoick burst through the door holding a hatchet.

"HICCUP! What on earth has just happened in here?" Stoick yelled angrily, but stopped when he saw the borderline chaotic scene around him. His son, Hiccup, was mostly on the floor but with his feet (sorry, foot) still on the bed, and although Stoick couldn't understand dragons that well, he could almost swear that Toothless was on the verge of laughter. He paused to smile at the situation that Hiccup had gotten himself into. "Well, Hiccup, it seems that Toothless has tricked you into waking up again. Honestly, sometimes I'm not sure if I should punish him for scaring you so badly, or fetch him a huge barrel of that Icelandic cod he seems to love so much as a reward for getting you out of bed so quickly." And with that, Stoick strode out of Hiccup's room, leaving Hiccup staring at his father in shock. Toothless, however, was grinning smugly.

"You hear that, Hiccup? Your dad's thinking about getting me some Icelandic cod for waking you up. Does that mean he'll let me to do this to you more often?" Toothless obnoxiously asked, irritating Hiccup even more than the wake-up prank he'd just pulled. Hiccup was just about to say something back before he remembered the last time Toothless woke him up early, and smiled a wistful smile at the memory. Unfortunately, Toothless noticed it. "Uh, Hiccup, what are you doing?" he asked. Hiccup suddenly remembered where he was and passed it off as being a joke he'd just remembered. To throw Toothless off the scent, Hiccup quickly asked, "Do you want to go flying now? After all, that is what you woke me up for, isn't it?" Toothless quickly agreed with Hiccup's idea, since he had only become more restless after pulling off his wake-up call prank and needed to go flying urgently. So Hiccup got changed, grabbed Toothless' saddle and went flying for three whole hours. Toothless, obviously, was having a blast, but Hiccup was too busy thinking about how to get revenge on Toothless. The last time Toothless did a prank like that, Hiccup tickled him until he begged for mercy and (eventually) apologized. Hiccup later told him that if he woke him up too early ever again, he'd tickle him again, and possibly tell the other dragons about his weakness. Luckily for Hiccup, he got plenty of time to think while resting under a tree in a deserted island. Unlike the last island he'd visited when alone with Toothless, this island had loads of plant life and a couple of very annoying insects that stung him a few times. Toothless had taken that opportunity to sleep under the sun.

 _I don't get it. Why would he do a wake-up prank again, especially after I taught him a lesson for it the first time he did it?_ Hiccup thought to himself. _Toothless is a member of the Strike class of dragons, and Strike class dragons are well-known for their accuracy and intelligence. Why would he do something that he knew the consequences of all too well?_ Then Hiccup had a brainwave. _He'd only do it if he didn't know what would happen if he did! Toothless must have forgotten about the last time I got my back on him and woke me up early to go flying!_ Then he smiled. _But on the bright side, at least I get a chance to get him back for it. After all, if you want your enemies to get their revenge on you, make sure you go to sleep first, which is exactly what Toothless has done. Lucky me._

Grinning devilishly, Hiccup circled Toothless until he could find a ticklish spot that he'd left vulnerable to attack. It turned out that there were several; Hiccup had never really noticed it before, but Toothless usually slept with the bottoms of his wings ever so slightly off the ground, leaving his stomach and sides almost completely unprotected. Still smirking slightly, Hiccup started looking around for something to tickle Toothless with, but all he could see on this part of the island was pebbles, trees and sand. He was becoming more and more frustrated, and was just about to run out of ideas when he unwittingly stumbled on four young wild yaks and some wild honey that the yaks simply wouldn't stop licking. Hiccup had an idea. Since the hive was quite literally dripping with honey and for some reason didn't have any bees flying around near it, Hiccup decided to take a few handfuls of honey, lure the yaks away with it, and smear it all over Toothless. After that, he'd just have to wait, but at least his patience would be rewarded later.

Using a long spool of strong, thick rope and a small, sharp knife that had been conveniently left behind by an ancient shipwreck, Hiccup tied the now restless baby yaks to a tree and started smearing Toothless with honey, being careful to smear most of it over his stomach and sides, but making sure he didn't wake Toothless up too early. Toothless grunted a little from the slight discomfort, but otherwise didn't notice a thing. Finally, Hiccup stood back and admired his handiwork. Toothless was now liberally coated in honey, from his scaly feet all the way to the top of his head. After tying Toothless' tail and back legs to a different tree with a concealed rope that Toothless wouldn't be able to see, Hiccup made the decision to release the yaks, who would probably feel hungry after seeing so much honey on one dragon. After untying them, they quickly ran over to the sleeping Night Fury and started to lick the honey off him, making him wake up and start giggling almost immediately. The yaks had obviously gotten to work, and they were doing their job well.

"Hahahahaha! Whahahahahahat's going on? Why are these yaks licking me, and why do I feel so sticky? Hahahahahahahaha! Hey, knock it off! Hehehehehehehe!" Toothless sniggered, as the yaks continued licking the sweet honey off him. Hiccup grinned at the scene.

"Toothless, you're covered in loads of sticky honey, and those yaks want to eat the honey, so they're licking it off you bit by bit. It'll stop once they've licked all the honey off you, which should take a while," Hiccup coolly answered. "After all, you are covered in the stuff."

"Ahahahahaha! How do you get them to stohohohohohohohohop?" Toothless giggled, trying to squirm away from the baby yaks as they dragged their small, rough and unbearably tickly tongues down Toothless' defenceless tummy and sides, making him laugh harder than before. After just one session of tickle torture, Hiccup already knew which places his dragon was most ticklish.

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HICCUP, HELP MEHEHEHEHEHEHE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Toothless laughed, as two of the yaks had settled for licking his sides and another two licking his poor stomach and ribcage. Hiccup decided to watch for another minute or so, and then decided to tell him why all this was happening to him in the first place.

"Toothless, I think by now, I owe you an explanation," Hiccup began, smirking slightly. "Do you remember the last time you woke me up early?" Toothless nodded, or at least he tried to through his laughter. "Oh, you do?" Hiccup continued. "Do you remember me leading you to a deserted island and tickling you until you gave in and apologised for waking me up early that morning? And I suppose you definitely don't remember me telling you that if you did this again, I'd tickle you again, do you?" Toothless was so surprised, he tried to hold in his laughter for a few seconds, but failed miserably. "Oh, and the reason why you're being licked half to death by a bunch of baby yaks? That was all my own work, to be honest," Hiccup shouted over Toothless' almost deafening laughter. "I found a beehive and these four baby yaks while you were asleep, and smeared it all over you while you slept away. Now these yaks will lick the honey off you, bit by bit, and they won't stop until they've licked you clean. This time, I'm not looking for you to apologise, not at all. Although I'm fairly sure that the yaks' tongues shall loosen yours! Enjoy it while it lasts, Toothless!"

"WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT?! NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Toothless protested, but to no avail. The yaks simply didn't want to stop licking off all that honey, and as Toothless was quick to discover, he was tied to a tree by a piece of very strong rope that appeared to be dragon-proof. He didn't have any trouble guessing who did this to him. After all, there was only one person he knew who could tie knots like this. (Besides, the last time Toothless checked, you needed two hands and a full set of fingers to be able to tie knots.)

"HICCUP, WHY DIHIHIHID YOU TIE MEHEHEHEHEHE TO A TREE? I CAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAN'T MOVE FROM HERE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Toothless chuckled. That laughter increased by a lot as one curious baby yak licked the bottom of his back feet, particularly the area next to his sharp claws after a few drops of sweet, succulent, addictive honey dripped onto them. Any control Toothless may have had over the amount of laughter that was being heard was lost entirely after this moment.

 **"YAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHASE, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO MOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHORE! I GIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIVE, HICCUP, OKAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAY! I GIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIVE! I'M SOHOHOHOHOHOHORRY!"**

"Nice try, Toothless, but I'm not letting you get away with waking me up that easily," Hiccup laughed, collecting some honey that was about to drip onto the sand and rubbing it all over his dragon's poor, sensitive back feet, which made him tense up and laugh just a little bit more. The laughing started up again once the same baby yak started to lick both of his feet in turn, randomly switching from one foot to the other. The fact that the rope made sure that he couldn't move either of his feet made it so much worse for the hysterical Night Fury, who desperately wanted a release from the ticklish torture that he was facing at the hands of Hiccup (and the tongues of these baby yaks).

 **"AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU STUPID YAHAHAHAHAHAHAK, DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHON'T DOHOHOHOHOHOHO THAHAHAHAHAHAT! IT TIHIHIHIHICKLES! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! EEK! HICCUP, PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE CAHAHAHAHAHAHALL 'EM OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOFF!"** Toothless begged.

"I don't think so, Toothless. I happen to rather enjoy watching people (and dragons) getting their just desserts. I just hope you feel the same way about it as I do," Hiccup replied, with all the calmness of a deadly snake just before it strikes you dead with a venomous fang to the heart. "Besides, you're laughing, aren't you? People only laugh when they're having fun, so you must be having fun right now."

 **"NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HICCUHUHUHUP, GET 'EM TO STOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOP! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"** Toothless was finding it hard to speak by this point, and it took another half-hour of torture (sorry, punishment) for the Night Fury to pass out from laughing too hard. (Well, to be exact, he passed out from being out of breath and energy which is technically caused by laughing too hard, but we're getting sidetracked here.)

* * *

At least two hours later, Toothless had woken up and all the honey had been licked off him bit by bit. Luckily for Toothless, he was still out cold while the rest of the honey was being 'removed', otherwise he'd have passed out laughing all over again.

They sat there in an awkward silence, until Toothless sheepishly said, "Sheesh, Hiccup, I didn't know you could actually pull off such an elaborate revenge scheme. Remind me to never get on your bad side again."

"I've already done that, Toothless, but you forgot all about it til now," Hiccup grinned, poking him a few times in the ribs (or at least, where his ribs would be if he was skinny enough to have his ribcage poke through his rough, scaly skin, which he wasn't) and watched his dragon flinch from the light touches of Hiccup's fingers and try to hold in his laughter.

"Not again, Hiccup! Hehehehehe! Those yaks have tickled me enough! Cut it out!" Toothless protested, giggling at the light touches on his surprisingly sensitive, scaly skin. "Get off of mehehehehehe!"

"Oh, I know, but I'm getting you back for being so smug about pulling this prank off after my dad came to see what was happening, not to mention laughing in my face about it all. Remember, Toothless, never be overconfident," Hiccup grinned.

"Got it, Hiccup," Toothless replied. Then, after a pause, "Do you wanna go home now? Apparently the novelty of us staying outside for ages is wearing off, as far as your dad is concerned."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go home." And as they flew home Toothless promised himself that he'd never wake Hiccup up early in the morning again, only this time, he was going to keep that promise.

* * *

 _ **So, what did you think? In the reviews section, a guest asked me if there was going to be a next chapter to "Dragons aren't ticklish - or are they?" This is my response to that review. TBH, I wasn't actually thinking of doing a sequel to my first story, but oh well, what's done can't be undone and all that! See ya!**_


	2. The tables are turned

Okay, people, you asked for it, and I'm giving it to you! (Or to be more accurate, Shadowassassin755 asked for it, and the idea's been stuck in my head for so long I just had to get rid of it by... writing another chapter! You're welcome, Shadowassassin755! By the way, just because there's a new chapter to this story, doesn't mean I now own the How To Train Your Dragon movie franchise and/or book series.) Anyway, enjoy!

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The next day, Hiccup woke up far earlier than he normally would. Since he couldn't get back to sleep no matter how hard he tried, he decided to find something to occupy himself with to help pass the time. But although Hiccup just loved to build new tailfins for Toothless and wild but cool inventions (such as his shield, with the built in catapult and bolas), the only thing he felt like doing was flying. _I bet Toothless knows how this feels,_ Hiccup thought to himself, as he glanced over at the peacefully sleeping Night Fury. _This is probably about the time when he'd wake me up, if I wasn't already awake. I wonder how he likes being woken up early._

Hiccup decided to tiptoe near to the stone slab Toothless slept on and see if Toothless had woken up yet or was close to waking up. After checking his dragon's face for signs of consciousness, Hiccup concluded that Toothless was sound asleep. After a few moments of deliberation, Hiccup decided to look for the long goose feather that had driven Toothless nuts the last time he had used it on him. It turned out that the feather was still in Hiccup's bag from the last time he'd used it, which was the first place he'd started looking for it anyway. Teasingly, he tested it on Toothless to see if it was as tickly as it was the last time, brushing it up and down his sides in short bursts and watching as the still-asleep Toothless squirmed and stifled a giggle. Smiling, he took the feather and went for Toothless' sides and armpits relentlessly with the feather, while also using his fingers to scratch his sides. The results were perfect.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Hey, whahahat's going ohohon?" Toothless giggled sleepily. He was awake now, but still fairly sleepy. Hiccup sniggered to himself - this was going to be fun, and he'd get to show Toothless how much he absolutely hated being woken up early. (As we know, Hiccup would probably figure out how to hibernate all year-round if he could.) _A win-win situation from every angle,_ Hiccup thought, as he used the feather to get to Toothless' most ticklish spots.

"Nohohohohohohoho! Hiccup, dohohohohon't!" Toothless laughed, trying to get away from Hiccup. But it was too late, as Hiccup had now gotten on top of him, and was exploiting this as much as he possibly could. Hiccup remembered that most of Toothless' sweet spots could be accessed from sitting on his back, and after realising that, Hiccup soon had Toothless begging for Hiccup to show mercy. "AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OKAY, HICCUHUHUP, I'M UP, I'M UP! NOW GEHEHEHET OHOHOHOHOFF MEHEHEHEHE!" Toothless begged, tears of laughter already streaming down his face.

"If you insist, you big baby," Hiccup teased, getting off the Night Fury to allow him time to breathe. "Sheesh, I didn't know you'd allow yourself to be reduced to begging quite so easily. I bet Dagur and his men would have a field day torturing you if they knew this." Toothless shuddered at the thought. Hiccup may be mean when searching for information, but Dagur would be ruthless. He just knew it.

"And I didn't know that you'd actually wake up early for once in your lifetime, Hiccup," Toothless retorted grumpily, as he got up and stretched. "Hiccup, you play dirty, you know that?"

"Nothing that you haven't already done, Toothless, you hypocrite," Hiccup replied, making Toothless freeze up with both anger and embarrassment, because Hiccup's comment made him remember that he'd done this twice in the past, and this gave him a rather guilty conscience. (Well, technically, only once, because Toothless had scared him out of bed the other time, but you know what I mean!)

"Anyway, Hiccup, why did you wake me up? This definitely isn't like you, so spill," Toothless demanded, keeping an eye on Hiccup at all times, like he had seen Stoick doing before. Now, it was Hiccup's turn to feel embarrassed.

"Well, Toothless, I woke you up early because . . . I wanted to go flying. There, I said it," Hiccup confessed, going tomato-red. This was something Toothless normally did, instead of him, and now he realised that, he felt like he'd done something extremely childish, which he had.

"Well, I guess you're lucky, then, I could definitely go for a morning flight right now," Toothless said, as Hiccup stood there, speechless. (Well you'd do the same thing if you were Hiccup, wouldn't you?) "Well, Hiccup. what are you waiting for? You said you wanted to go flying!"

Hurriedly, the pair took to the skies and decided to see if they could beat Astrid and Stormfly's top speed . . . right in front of them. This blatant display of arrogance by the pair had them smirking at first and then fuming as Hiccup and Toothless beat them and raised the bar even higher for them the next time they tried to break that record.

"See you around, you two," Hiccup yelled arrogantly as they flew off.

"Have fun trying to beat that, Stormfly! I'll have fun watching you fail!" Toothless taunted in Dragonese, so only Stormfly would understand. But what he'd forgotten was that Hiccup understood as well.

As soon as they were out of Astrid and Stormfly's sight line and earshot, Hiccup tweaked Toothless' ear viciously to get his attention, making him yelp with pain and shock. "Ouch, Hiccup, don't do that! My ears are really sensitive to pain!"

"Toothless, don't be so mean to Stormfly. You know how competitive she can be," Hiccup chided, like a parent to an errant child. This just made Toothless smirk.

"You're one to talk, Hiccup! Do you remember what you said to Astrid, who happens to be _just as competitive as Stormfly?_ " Toothless felt Hiccup's legs stiffen up and he knew without looking that Hiccup had turned red from embarrassment. _I'll take that as a yes, then,_ Toothless thought.

"Fine, Toothless, you win, we're even now, OK?" Hiccup blurted out, making Toothless snigger.

"Hey, Hiccup, how do you win against somebody else and still be even with them?" he cheekily replied, making Hiccup see red and twist his other ear in frustration, but much harder this time.

"YEOW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Toothless yelled angrily, as he instantly flattened both ears against his head to stop Hiccup from twisting them again.

"You might want to watch your mouth, Toothless," warned Hiccup. "If you were understood by humans, you'd have managed to talk your way into your grave by now."

"Well in that case, let's be glad most humans _don't_ know what I'm saying," Toothless snapped. "Mildew would be after me with an axe, and so would your dad, now I think about it!"

"That's what I meant!" Hiccup fired back. Unfortunately, he said this a lot louder than he meant to just when Snotlout and Hookfang, of all the people (and dragons, obviously) were flying past, naturally. (Honestly, what are the odds?)

"Hey, Hiccup, I see you're talking to Toothless again, dragon boy. How pathetic. You know and I know that Toothless can't give you an intelligent answer," Snotlout sneered, as Hookfang looked downwards, feeling embarrassed. (I don't blame him, to be perfectly honest. If I had a rider like Snotlout, I'd be embarrassed too.)

Hiccup was about to give Snotlout a rude and sarcastic answer, but he didn't even need to open his mouth, because Toothless answered for him, even though Snotlout doesn't understand Dragonese. But he didn't need to. It only took a few plasma blasts at Snotlout's oversized head before he clung to Hookfang's long, spindly neck to get away from all the plasma blasts being aimed at him.

"Alright, Toothless, I'm so sorry I insulted you! Even though you can't actually give a reply back, you're great company and super smart, too! Now stop shooting plasma blasts at me, please!" Snotlout begged, hugging Hookfang's neck with a vice-like grip like a baby clinging onto his mother's arms. At this, Toothless stopped firing, not because he was happy with Snotlout's answer, but because Hookfang looked like he was being strangled by Snotlout. Still terrified, Snotlout and Hookfang flew off, although Toothless couldn't help noticing that Hookfang looked significantly less embarrassed now than he did before. (Maybe it was a trick of the light. Then again, maybe not.)

"Thanks, Toothless."

"Don't mention it. I've been wanting to do that for a while anyway."

"Really?" Hiccup choked out, shocked. "I-I-I knew Snotlout was a muttonhead and a jerk, but I didn't think that some of the dragons would like to see him humbled, too!"

"Oh, they'd love to see that happen, believe me," Toothless replied calmly. "Even Thornado would like to teach Snotlout a long and possibly embarrassing lesson about respect if he could, and he's Stoick's dragon, for crying out loud! Anyway, enough about who we dragons do and don't like. We need to get back as soon as possible. We started our flight at sunrise, and judging from the sun's position in the sky, I'd say it's about noon. If we stay out any later, our skins will be on the wall as decoration by your dad."

"Fine, fine, let's go."

After arriving back at Berk, they were immediately confronted by a couple of yaks escaping their pens. These weren't baby yaks that Toothless had been mercilessly tortured by in the past, but their fully grown counterparts. Toothless and Hiccup helped round up a few of the yaks to save Gobber and Stoick some trouble. (Toothless scared them into their pens, and Hiccup held out what Toothless thought were buckets of water that the yaks somehow couldn't get enough of, coaxed them into their pens, and shut the door on them when they were back in their pens where they were supposed to be.)

A few minutes later, when everyone had returned to whatever they had been doing, Toothless went over to one of the buckets that the yaks had wanted to devour so badly, and out of curiosity, took a sip from it. It only took a second for him to regret it. Yuck - it tasted like an entire block of salt! Toothless thought, as he raced over to a nearby water trough to get rid of the unenviable taste it had left in his mouth. And Toothless realized he wasn't the only one who noticed, as Hiccup was now doubled over laughing. Toothless felt an unwelcome and slightly sickening wave of embarrassment wash over him as he stared at Hiccup.

"Just shut up, Hiccup! I didn't know it was saltwater, otherwise I wouldn't have even thought about drinking it!" Toothless protested angrily, glaring at Hiccup. "Also, why were those yaks drawn to that stuff? It tastes disgusting!"

"I don't know, to be honest," Hiccup admitted. "Nobody does. But when one Viking noticed that the buckets of saltwater he kept to melt the ice in front of his house kept getting eaten by local yaks, he realized what else they could be used for."

Toothless thought for a moment, and smirked. "Well, if nobody knows why they like saltwater so much, then maybe we'll spend some time finding out," Toothless said, grinning.

"Wait, what did you say, Toothless? And what did you mean by 'we'?" Hiccup asked scaredly. Not bothering to explain, Toothless picked up one of the buckets of saltwater carefully with his mouth, not wanting to drink it a second time, and doused Hiccup with it, causing Hiccup to now become covered in the saltwater the yaks were apparently so addicted to. Hiccup gave a small yelp of shock because of how cold the salt water was, causing much of the herd to run in the opposite direction in fear.

"What was that for, Toothless?" Hiccup shouted angrily, causing the rest of the herd to join the first half on the other side of the spacious pen. "Is this your plan? To cover me in water?"

"I didn't cover you in water," Toothless corrected, "I covered you in _saltwater_. And before you silence me and say that it's basically the same thing, allow me to prove you wrong." And with that, Toothless tossed Hiccup into the yak pen, where he was quickly surrounded by a few curious yaks. But these yaks were fully grown, and definitely a lot stronger than poor Hiccup.

"Now then, just d-don't come any closer, and w-we should be fine with each other," Hiccup stammered nervously, as he backed away from the yaks, who clearly weren't taking the hint and moving closer to him. Suddenly, one of the yaks lifted up Hiccup's tunic and licked his stomach, causing him to leap back in surprise.

"Ehehehehehe! Hehehey, what are yohohou doing?" Hiccup giggled, twisting away from the yaks. But it was too late. They were onto him like a pile of bricks, and none of them were willing to let go of their huge saltwater-covered prize. Pity their 'prize' didn't think the same way as they did.

"YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hiccup laughed, struggling desperately to get away from the yaks' evil tongues. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! TOOHOOHOOHOOHOOTHLEHEHEHEHEHESS! HEEELP!"

Calmly, Toothless shook his head. "Sorry, Hiccup. I'm not getting you out until you've learned the difference between regular water and saltwater. Until then, I guess you'll just have to stay there."

"NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! I'VE LEHEHEHEHEHEARNED THE DIFFEREHEHEHENCE BETWEEHEEHEEN REHEHEHEHEGULAHAHAHAHAR WATER AND SALTWATER! NOW STOHOHOHOHOHOHOP!"

"And you have to give at least one difference between the two and what salt water can be used for," Toothless added coolly. "However, stating what it is being used for now doesn't count, obviously."

"WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT!? YOHOHOHOHOHOU ONLY SAHAHAID THAHAHAHAHAT SO I'D STAHAHAHAY HERE LONGER, YOHOHOU JEHEHEHERK!"

"Well, if you want to get out of there, then I suggest that you find a way out of there, and fast," Toothless said, grinning as he laid down on the floor close to the yak pen, intending to get as comfortable as possible while Hiccup was being tortured by the tongues of the yaks.

"YAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHELP! TOOHOOHOOTHLEHEHEHEHESS!" Hiccup begged, tears of laughter streaming down his bright red face like small rivers, made that way from the embarrassment of being tickle-tortured in public, and also from laughing so hard, because as we know, Hiccup is extremely ticklish. Suddenly, one of the yaks went for his armpits, which were now soaked in a mix of sweat and saltwater, which sent Hiccup into a spell of silent laughter. Hurriedly, Toothless scared the yaks off and pulled Hiccup out of the yak pen as quickly as he could.

"Hiccup, are you OK?" Toothless asked worriedly, inwardly panicking. He didn't mean for the prank to go this far and he never meant for Hiccup to be so tired and out of breath. He was trying to get him back for the prank he'd played that morning!

"Regular water can be used for drinking and washing, unlike saltwater, and saltwater can be used to melt ice quickly in cold weather," Hiccup replied calmly. Toothless was about to ask him what he meant, until he remembered that he'd told him that he had to answer those questions for him to be let out.

"That's - that's correct," he stuttered. Smirking, Hiccup got up and used his hand to wipe off any saliva on his stomach.

"Also, I thought I only got out until I told you the answers. Why didn't that happen, Toothless?" Hiccup asked.

"Hiccup, you were about to pass out. I had to get you out of there," Toothless pointed out. "Unless, of course, you'd rather cover yourself in saltwater again and get back in with all those friendly yaks?" Hiccup froze and slowly backed away, making Toothless giggle. "You know, Hiccup, how about a truce? You don't tickle-torture me, and I don't tickle-torture you. Deal?" Toothless negotiated, feeling rather nervous and stupid, like a child being scolded after a fight and was now being made to apologize.

Looking around, and blushing, Hiccup playfully punched the side of his head and replied, "Deal. Now, how about some water, Toothless?"

"Oh, thanks," Toothless said, and gulped down the entire bucket of water before grimacing at the taste. "Seriously, Hiccup? Saltwater? Oh, don't think I'm gonna let you get away with pranking me like that. Get back here!"

Laughing, Hiccup took off, Toothless hot on his heels. Hearing all the commotion, Astrid looked out of her window and laughed. After all. that sort of thing always seemed to happen on Berk with those two around.

* * *

 _ **Hi there, all you gorgeous people! This is just a message from me, FoxtrotTango543, to say sorry for taking so long with this second chapter, and also to say that I will be taking a hiatus from writing HTTYD fanfics so I can cast a wider net across the world of fanfiction! In fact, I'm thinking about writing a fanfic about Sing! 2016. Oh, and I almost forgot to say this to you all: HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ME!**_


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